


Some Kind of Magic

by HeiszKetchup



Series: All Summer Long [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: for fuck's sake there's far too many characters in this fic, this can only go uphill from here, welcome to camp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 23:53:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1797925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeiszKetchup/pseuds/HeiszKetchup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just your average summer camp au in which kids who are usually off fighting titans are now dealing with bratty children, bug bites, and generic camp shenanigans. In which Jean can't believe their training camp consists of an instructor who screams like a military sergeant, and doesn't know how he'll survive an entire summer with these people as his coworkers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And So It Begins

It wasn’t like Jean had been expecting the very best co-workers when he had applied for the job. After all, it was your average overnight summer camp, sure to be filled with bratty kids, bug bites, and hormonal teenagers attempting to teach. To be fair, the job hadn’t been Jean’s idea in the first place, but rather his mom’s. She hadn’t suggested applying so much as she had dropped the application form into his lap and informed him that if he didn’t get a summer job then he’d be sleeping at a friend’s house all summer long.

Still, even Jean’s wildest hopes and dreams for the camp and his co-workers couldn’t have prepared him for what he was met with on the first day of training. As his mom pulled into the parking lot, he saw a group of people standing nearby, looking very much like a band of misfits who had escaped the circus. They stood along and in pairs, shoulders hunched against the chilly early morning air.

As Jean stepped out of the car, he was greeted by the sight of an older man who looked like he hadn’t slept at all in the last year. As Jean marveled at the dark circles under his eyes (they were as black as the pits of satan’s soul), the man suddenly spoke in a voice that was far too loud for the time of day.

“Jean Kirschtein, I presume?” he boomed,  “You’re late!”

“Sorry,” answered his mom, who had just gotten out of the car, “traffic was awful.”

“Hmmm. An acceptable excuse. Very well, Kirschtein, you may say farewell to your maternal figure.”

At a giggle from a boy with a buzz cut, the man turned back to the main group.

“Shut up, Springer,” he said, walking away.

Jean turned to face his mother, clearing his throat to break awkward silence that had settled.

“So, uh, I guess this is goodbye,” he said, shuffling his feet.

Her eyes crinkled as she smiled and gave him a hug. He hugged her back awkwardly, all too aware of the eyes upon his back.

“Have a wonderful time, sweetie,” she said, stepping away, “and don’t forget to write!”

“I will,” replied Jean, cringing at buzz cut’s snicker, “I’ll see you at the first break we get.”

“Yup! Enjoy the camp, hun.”

“Uh, sure thing, mom. Bye.”

“Bye, Jean!”

With that, his mom turned and got back into the car, waved, and started to drive off.

Jean watched her go, the expression on his face a mix between thoughtful and ‘please don’t leave me here alone.’ It was only when his mom was almost out of sihgt that Jean realized he was missing something very important.

“Hey, wait! My stuff!”

* * *

 

After shouting and waving his arms to try and catch his mother’s attention, Jean finally managed to chase her down and retrieve his things. He carried them back to the group with the help of buzz cut, who had been forced into assisting Jeans as penance for his giggling.

Now, out of breath and having said goodbye to his mother for a second time, Jean stood alongside the group of teenagers. After dropping his stuff into the pile of other duffel bags and backpacks, Jean got his first good look at his coworkers.

To his right, and closest to the dark-circled man, was a freckled boy with dark hair who kept looking nervously at the loud person beside him, as if he were a bomb that could go off at any moment (to be fair, Jean was pretty sure that any sudden movements on their part could unleash an explosion of loud words). On the other side of dark circles stood buzz cut who, Jean realized upon further inspection, was actually pretty short. He was talking excitedly to a girl with bangs and long brown hair tied back into a ponytail. She was talking less than her partner, due to whatever food she kept sneaking out of her pockets and eating.

On their right stood three people in an awkward sort of huddle. Two boys stood talking together, while a short girl by their side stood quietly, answering the odd question or comment that was sent her way. One of the boys was stocky and well built, with blond hair and a significant lack of eyebrows. He was talking to a nervous looking boy with shaggy dark hair, who towered over everyone else in the group and was visibly sweating. The girl, who looked like a bungalow next to a skyscraper in comparison to the tall boy, had blonde hair up in a bun and a nose that was prominent on her face, even from Jean’s distance.

Beside her, on Jean’s left, was a pair of girls – one was talking rapidly, her words punctuated by the other girl’s occasional sounds of agreement. The talkative girl was also a petite blonde, and was even shorter than the previous one. Her large blue eyes contrasted the dark hazel ones of the girl beside her, who was much taller and had tanned skin, dark hair, and freckles.

As Jean absentmindedly began to calculate the probability of two people in their small group having freckles, the sound of a large engine and a honking horn interrupted his thoughts. He turned to see a large green school bus pulling its way into the parking lot. The dark circles man grinned at the sight, and hollered as the bus stopped and opened its doors.

“Finally! It took you long enough, Hannes!”

“Oh, give me a break, Keith,” replied the blond man inside the bus, leaning out of his seat, “I had to pick up these three on the way.”

At this, Jean noticed the three other kids who were already on board the bus. As he tried to get a better look at them, Keith, the dark circled man, stepped in front of him. He crossed his arms behind his back and his face took on an expression that was the happiest Jean imagined he could look.

“Alright!” he boomed, causing the group to wince, “now that you are all here, we can finally begin. And, because it is no longer the early morning hours, I can finally use my normal voice!”

As he paused for breath, the looks on the teenagers’ faces turned to mild horror as they collectively realized he hadn’t been speaking at full volume.

“As you are this year’s batch of counselors,” he continued, “welcome to Camp Sina! I am Keith Shadis, and I am in charge of the training camp. You will be with me for the next three days straight, and with each other for the rest of the summer, so I suggest you get friendly with each other now!”

The group exchanged nervous glances as he continued to bellow (except for the blonde with the bun, her face remained the same).

“Now, we will be embarking to the camp grounds, where you will be spending all of your time while employed. Get all of your things together and onto the bus, and then get your sorry asses on board. Pronto!”

He hollered the last word even louder, making the entire jump and then scramble into action. As Jean rushed to gather his things, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of psychos would hire a man who yelled like a military sergeant to be in charge of their training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we're already introduced to the main cast! What a progressive fic this is turning out to be.
> 
> Also, was that goodbye scene as awkward to read as it was to write? I sure hope not.


	2. The Short One Swears the Most

It had been over half an hour since the teenagers had set off for Camp Sina on the rickety green school bus. In that time, which had been filled with semi-nervous chatter amongst themselves, more bellowed announcements from Shadis, and even a few half hearted camp songs, Jean had managed to learn the names of all his coworkers.

The freckled boy, who had somehow ended up sitting next to Jean for the duration of the ride, was Marco Bodt. He was kind and somewhat soft spoken, and had blushed as he admitted to Jean that he had wanted to be a camp counselor ever since he had gone to a great summer camp as a kid. He also laughed and revealed that once, he had wanted to join the army, like his brother, but had dropped that dream a while ago.

In the seat behind them were the boy with the buzz cut and the girl with the brown hair in a ponytail. The boy turned out to be Connie Springer, who made up for his short stature by making his presence known instead through bad jokes and loud laughter. Upon being asked about his haircut, he told them that he had gotten the shaven head by losing a bet. The girl then politely informed them that he had actually gotten it because one of his older brothers had tricked him into thinking that Camp Sina was a military camp, and that the haircut was mandatory.

Once she had been shunned by Connie for revealing the embarrassing truth, the girl had introduced herself as Sasha Braus. It was over the bus ride that Jean realized how much she loved to eat, as indicated by the amount snacks she had hidden on herself. Shadis kept catching her with the food and confiscating, but Sasha would shortly after pull out another snack once she was sure he wasn’t watching anymore. By the end of the trip, Jean had counted thirty seven sacrifices to Shadis.

Behind the grumpy Connie and mourning Sasha sat the blonde girl and her tanned sidekick. The blue eyed girl with the long blonde hair was Krista Lenz, who was by far the kindest person on board the bus, and spoke with a soft voice. In contrast to her was the tanned girl, who was loud and crude. When asked for her name, she revealed her first name as Ymir, but smirked and refused to tell anyone her last name. She kept picking on the pair in front of her, by flicking on their necks and ears, much to Krista’s disapproval.

On their left, across the aisle, was the blond boy and his skyscraper companion, with the other small blonde girl sitting in front of them. The muscular boy with the short blond hair was Reiner Braun, who was talking loudly and excitedly to the other two. The tall boy with the dark hair was Bertholdt Hoover, and seemed to be constantly sweating (Jean was convinced that there was a rapidly growing puddle around him on the bus seat). Bertholdt was more soft spoken and shy than Reiner, and spent most of the ride trying to keep the blond boy from leaning over the seat to pester the girl in front of them.

Said girl turned out to be Annie Leonhardt, who spent half her time staring out the window, and the other half trying to punch Reiner’s eyebrow-less face. Like Krista, she had blue eyes and blonde hair, the latter of which was pulled back into a tight bun, with long bangs falling over one eye. She also wore an oversized gray hoodie, which she kept her hands tucked in for the most part (except, of course, when she was throwing punches upwards).

In front of Annie sat the three kids who had arrived on the bus -  a blond boy who had been reading for most of the trip, an angry-faced boy who kept talking loudly and trying to get out of his seat, and a dark-haired girl with a red scarf who kept yanking him back down into it.

The boy with the blonde hair, which was cut into a messy sort of bowl cut, was Armin Arlert, and seemed to be the smartest out of anyone on the bus. It had already been pointed out that, with his blond hair and wide blue eyes, he looked like a male version of Krista. However, upon being asked if they were related, Armin had just laughed, and both had claimed that they had no siblings. Jean, however, had heard Connie and Sasha behind him making a bet on whether or not they were long-lost twins.

The boy and girl sitting in front of Armin, who were clearly friends with him and one another, were introduced as Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman. The two were somehow distantly related, but Jean hadn’t really heard, due to his sudden intense dislike for Jaeger. Something about the boy, with his vibrant blue-green eyes and dark brown hair, just set Jean’s teeth on edge.

Mikasa, on the other had, was a completely different story. With her fair skin and long black hair, Jean had been hit so hard by her beauty when he first saw her that he had stopped dead in his tracks. This, unfortunately, was right when he had been climbing aboard the bus, earning him a groan and a ‘hurry the fuck up’ from the disgruntled Ymir behind him. To Jean’s, dismay, however, Mikasa seemed most concerned with keeping Eren in line. This probably would have made much more sense to him if he knew the relative nature of their relationship but, unfortunately for him, the idiot hadn’t been listening.

And now, Jean Kirschtein, with his grumpy expression and his undercut (which had earned him the nickname ‘two-tone’ from Eren, who didn’t seem to like him very much either) sat on the bus filled with sweaty teenagers (mainly Bertholdt) and humid air. He almost cried with relief when Hannes pulled the bus into a driveway with a large wooden sign that read “Camp Sina” in large letters, with “since 1900” in smaller ones beneath it.

The bus pulled down the long driveway, and leafy branches rattled against the windows (one hit Connie in the face through his open window). As they drove into a large parking lot, Jean got his first good look at his summer workplace. It seemed exactly like any other summer camp – a large field, several smaller buildings that read things like ‘crafts’ and ‘first aid,’ a large building with a sign that said ‘office,’ small sheds that Jean assumed held equipment, and a scattering of cabins off in the distance. The most obvious thing, however, was the large pond on the other side of the field, which had a long wooden dock, a lifeguard tower, sandy beaches, and several racks holding canoes and kayaks.

In short, the camp looked pretty much the exact same as it had on the pamphlet Jean’s mom had given him. The only difference was that it was a lot bigger than the pictures tended to make one believe. However, instead of the awe that most people might feel upon viewing such a sight, Jean could only feel one thing – that he had gotten himself into a hell of a lot more than he had originally signed up for.

As the bus pulled to a stop and opened its doors, Jean noticed for the first time the two people standing nearby, waiting for them. Before he could get a good look at them, however, Shadis stood up, effectively blocking his view.

“Alright, maggots,” he roared, somehow even louder than before, “if you look out of your windows, you will find that we have arrived at Camp Sina! We will now be departing the bus, as I see that some of the head staff are waiting for us. Leave your things, as they will be brought to your barracks for you. Now, move it!”

Once again, the teenagers raced into action at his prompt, quickly exiting the bus and gathering outside. Shadis followed them off the bus, with Hannes close behind him.

“Attention, worms!” he screamed, pointing to the newcomers, “meet two of your head staff, Levi and Hanji!”

“Jesus, Keith,” muttered Levi, a remarkably short man with a mean face, “no need to be so loud. Go take a shit or something; it might loosen up your personality.”

Beside him, Hanji, who had brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and square glasses on a rope around their neck, laughed loudly at this comment. Keith grunted in reply to Levi over Hanji’s laughter.

“Shut up, shitty glasses,” said Levi to his partner, causing the group to blink at his vocabulary, “Anyways, brats, Shadis is right. We’re head staff here at camp, which means we’re in charge of all of you. I’m the facilities director, which means that if you break or mess up anything on the camp grounds, I have to fix it. So _don’t._ This is Hanji, the program director here. They’re fucking insane though, so try not to talk to them unless you absolutely have to.”

“Levi!” countered Hanji defensively, “I’m not insane, just motivated! Besides, like you’re one to talk, you short clean freak.”

Levi stepped on Hanji’s foot, effectively cutting their words off. As they tried to tug their foot out from under his weight, Levi continued.

“And that’s another thing. Don’t mention my height – I’ve heard all the damn jokes already. And if you do, then so help me, I will be sure to kick your sorry, miserable little–”

“LEVI!”

A loud, deep voice interrupted the short man’s tirade, causing the group to turn and see a tall blonde man coming towards them.

“Holy shit,” breathed Connie, “it’s Krista and Armin’s father.”

As the two targets of this comment repeatedly denied the allegation, the man reached the group.

“Welcome to Camp Sina,” he said, smiling warmly at them, “I’m Erwin Smith, camp coordinator. I’m in charge of making sure that things run smoothly here.”

At this, he turned to Levi and Hanji, latter of whom had finally extracted their foot and now stood glaring down at the shorter man.

“And you two,” continued Erwin, pointing at the pair, “no more threatening the new recruits.”

“Yes sir, Commander Eyebrows,” said Levi, saluting him sarcastically.

“More like Commander Handsome,” whispered Reiner, earning himself an elbow jab straight to his ribs from Annie.

As the large boy doubled over wheezing, Erwin turned back to the pack of teenagers, raising his (now very noticeable) large eyebrows at them.

“Alright, Keith. I trust you can give them a tour of the grounds by yourself?”

Shadis nodded, and Erwin did the same in return.

“Well then, everyone, enjoy your tour. I’ll meet you all later – and welcome again to Camp Sina.”

Erwin turned once more to face Levi and Hanji, said “don’t you two have something better to be doing?” and left. Hannes followed after him, catching up and starting a conversation. Levi and Hanji also turned to go, but not before the former gave the group one last dark glare before departing. Left alone with the group of teenagers once more, Shadis turned to face them and drew in a deep breath.

“Well, what are you waiting for? You heard Smith, let’s move!”

They started to follow him, when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

“But before we go anywhere… Braus, give me your jacket.”

She blanched, but did as she was told and took off the garment in question. Shadis made a ‘hmph’ noise as she handed it to him, and he unzipped all the pockets he could find before he flipped it upside down and gave it a hearty shake.

As the group watched in amazement, a torrent of food cascaded from the jacket to the ground. A few more shakes, and a significantly large pile of snacks lay before them. Shadis smiled, satisfied, and handed the jacket back to a shaken Sasha.

“Alright! Let’s move out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names are revealed and some new faces are even introduced! How we're going to keep track of them all, I just don't know.
> 
> Also, for those who are confused - Hanji is referred to in this fic as 'they.' I'll do my best to call them by name, though, to avoid any possible confusion with pronouns.


	3. Introductions and Eccentric Displays

It had been a long tour of the grounds. Between Sasha’s mournful sniffles, Eren attempting to break away from the group (and Mikasa dragging him back every time), Reiner’s terrible jokes and well-deserved violent reactions from Annie, and Shadis’ constant screaming, Jean was ready to hijack Hanne’s bus and drive home. It was only the patient consolation of Marco that kept him sane. At this point, Jean was halfway convinced that Marco and Krista were angels sent to from heaven to help them deal with the demons who had also decided to join their group (mainly Eren and Ymir).

The tour, which had taken over an hour and led them to all the locations in the camp, had not only gotten them well acquainted with their surroundings, but also with each other. As Shadis had gleefully informed them, they would each be given a specific position and, depending on what it was, would be spending much of their time in one place all summer. While Jean wasn’t sure how he’d handle the entire summer there, he still had to admit that the facilities were nice (apparently, Levi was good for something other than swearing).

There was a large office, which had two floors – they were told that they were not, under any circumstances, to enter the upper floor. At the office they met Hanji a second time, as well as her nervous-looking assistant, Moblit. Beside the office was an enormous dining hall filled with scuffed wooden tables, and which had a large kitchen attached to it. Mike, a man with long brown hair and a shaggy moustache, had been introduced to them as the camp chef. In the middle of welcoming the group, the man had suddenly frozen (Jean could have sworn his eyes flashed in that moment), spun, and thrown the spatula he had been holding. Although, ‘thrown’ was an understatement – the metal plate had embedded itself in the wooden wall inches away from Sasha’s nose (who had been on her way to the food storage).

The group met Levi again in front of a cluster of cabins, where he stood defensively with crossed arms and an army of cleaning supplies. Keith informed them that these were the staff cabins in which they would be sleeping over the summer. For the training days, however, they would be staying in the campers’ tents, as Levi was still cleaning the cabins. At the wave of groans and complaints that arose over this news, Shadis fixed them with a steely glare and warned that if anyone said another word, he’d take away all the mattresses from the tents. It got very quiet after that.

The rest of the tour was fairly simple. Equipment sheds were all over the grounds, and were to be kept neat and organized (Jean could feel Levi’s glare from across the expansive field). There was a open stage with rooms behind it that held props and musical equipment. A large barn held arts and crafts supplies in it as well as many glitter covered tables, and a building with beds and medical equipment was nearby. Inside the latter building was an auburn-haired woman who introduced herself as Petra, the camp nurse, and told them all that she’d happily fix them up all summer long. While she had probably meant for the comment to be kind, Jean had felt nothing but absolute fear (the fact that Petra had been holding up a syringe as she said it hadn’t helped matters much).

The (now fairly terrified) group was also shown ‘Trost,’ the forest that bordered the campgrounds. In it were trails, mountain biking courses, haphazardly built shelters, and wild animals.

“Are there bears?” Krista had asked nervously.

“Don’t worry, babe,” Reiner had cut in before Shadis could answer, “the real bear here is me.”

Both Annie and Ymir had taken him down that time.

Finally, they’d seen the pond, which had been named ‘Maria Pond’ after a girl who had supposedly drowned there in the camp’s first year. Despite Armin’s attempts to explain that is was just a rumour, Sasha’s face had turned pale upon hearing this, a fact which did not go unnoticed by Connie. As they ventured out onto the deck, he tried to spook Sasha, but before he could succeed he encountered a poorly-placed life jacket.

His foot immediately got tangled in the jacket, and in his attempts to get free Connie went careening off the side of the dock, arms flailing wildly. He hit the water with the audible smack, splashed the people standing near the edge, and then sank into the depths in a trail of bubbles.

Now, several minutes later, Jean and the others were making their way back to the dining hall. Trailing behind them was a sopping wet Connie, and Sasha, who was still howling with laughter, previous fear forgotten completely. Shadis, who had nearly popped all of their eardrums when Connie had impersonated a tsunami, led the teenagers into the dining hall. Erwin stood there waiting for them along with Petra and four other new people. He took in Connie’s dripping appearance, but wisely chose not to ask about it.

Once the attention was on him, Erwin began to speak before Shadis had a chance to start howling.

“Hello again, everyone. I trust you had a pleasant – er, exciting tour? Don’t worry if you don’t know the grounds completely yet; you’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted with them over the next few months.”

He stepped aside so everyone could see the people standing behind him. Petra waved at them, while the man beside her, who sported an undercut, narrowed his beady eyes and sneered at them. Two men beside him smiled at the group earnestly. The taller of the two had sandy blonde hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail, and matched the patch growing on his chin. The other man was of a stockier build, and had short dark hair that stuck up oddly at the back. At the end of the row stood a newcomer with sandy brown hair, who had their arms crossed and was looking at them with a displeased glare.

“Let me introduce you to the other members of our head staff,” continued Erwin, “I hear you’ve already met Petra Ral, our head nurse. This is Auruo Bossard,  head of arts.”

The man with the undercut sneered again and muttered ‘brats’ under his breath, reminding Jean of someone else they’d met that day.

“These two are Erd Gin and Gunther Schultz, our heads of sports and head of specialties, respectively.”

The blonde man and dark haired man nodded in turn.

“And this here is Nanaba. They’re in charge of the campers’ counsellors though, so you probably won’t see much of them.”

At their confused looks over the last comment, Erwin smiled and finished gesturing to the sandy-haired member. He crossed his arms behind his back and faced the group, his entire demeanor shifting completely.

“Well, now that you’ve been introduced to all our staff members, I can finally reveal why you’re all here!” he boomed, in a voice that rivaled Shadis’, “some of you may have been wondering why we called you to camp early, and why there are so few of you here. Well, wonder no more. You have all been chosen for program positions!”

He paused, most likely waiting for sounds of understanding and happiness, but all he was met with was silence and looks of bewilderment.

“Every year,” Erwin continued, “we choose a group of talented young individuals to teach specific programs in our camp. These programs range far and wide, from survival skills to singing, and each fall under one of three categories – arts, sports, or specialties. When you all applied to the camp, you were given a series of questions to answer, which helped us determine who would be chosen to teach a program. I’m pleased to announce that you all are this year’s program counselors!”

Some of the group was now starting to catch on, slowly nodding their heads. The rest of them still looked like they had just been told that the day Tuesday no longer existed. Erwin picked up a clipboard from a nearby table, and addressed them once more.

“When I call your name, I will announce the program you will be teaching, and you may go stand with the head of your program type. In the Arts division, with Auruo in charge, is Histo– er, Krista Lenz, who will be teaching arts and crafts!”

As the petite blonde made her way to stand next to Auruo, Jean wondered what kind of hellish face she hade pulled in order to cause Erwin to look as though he were about to shit himself and instantly change which name he was reading.

“Also with Auruo,” continued the now shaken blond man, “are Sasha and Connie. Sasha will be in charge of the music program, while Connie will teach drama and comedy.”

At this news, the boy and girl high-fived and cheered, resulting in a free shower for the nearby teenagers.

“Next, under the supervision of Erd, will be the sports counselors – Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt. Annie will be teaching the girls-only self defense program. Reiner will be the leader of the more strenuous sports activities, while Bertholdt will oversee the less strenuous ones.”

Reiner slung his arms over the shoulders of his two new comrades, but due to the awkwardly large height difference, he was thrown off balance. This allowed for Annie to easily slip out from under his arm, causing the bear of a boy to go crashing to the floor.

Erwin simply stared as the nervous Bertholdt lifted Reiner to his feet and followed Annie over to the shocked Erd, whose eyebrows were arched so high they looked as if they were attempting to escape the confines of his forehead. If Jean had to guess, both men were starting to question their hiring decisions.

“Er, moving on… In our last category, the specialty programs, led by Gunter, we have four counselors – Jean, Marco, Armin, and Eren.”

Jean’s head swiveled suddenly to stare at each of the mentioned boys. Marco looked happy, Armin looked relieved, and Eren… well, Eren was staring at Jean with a face of utter horror and pure revulsion. Jean could feel his own face morphing into the unique expression of mixed emotions. However, despite internally reeling at the news, he caught the rest of Erwin’s explanation.

“Jean and Marco will be paired together for the summer as the water counselors, as we don’t have the resources to run two separate programs at the same time. As such, you two will alternate each week between the canoe and white-water-rafting programs.

Armin will be teaching our survival skills camp, while Eren will be in charge of our ‘extreme summer’ program, which is essentially our way of tiring kids out for the rest of the summer.”

The four boys walked up to Gunther, the man with the dark spiky hair, as Jean and Eren eyed each other angrily. Once they were with their head supervisor, Erwin addressed the two girls who still remained standing in front of the others.

“Lastly,” he said, grinning widely, “Ymir and Mikasa. You two know this already, but the rest of the group doesn’t.”

He turned to face the confused teenagers.

“Ymir and Mikasa will not be serving as program counselors like the rest of you, but rather as vital people in our camp. Mikasa will be working with Petra this summer as her assistant, as she is currently in nurse’s training. Ymir will be our camp lifeguard, and will be on duty all summer, as the kids swim every day. So, even though they aren’t counselors, please treat these two with respect, as they are in charge of saving your life!”

He said this last bit so enthusiastically that Jean was fully convinced he wanted them to become seriously injured or drowning. Connie, on the other hand, seemed less concerned by Erwin’s enthusiasm and more with the statement itself.

“Wait, wait, wait!” he spluttered, pointing his finger at the pair, “you mean that I’m entrusting my life to them? I mean, Mikasa seems okay, but… Ymir?”

Before Krista or Eren had the chance to defend the girls, the pair stared at Connie, then at each other. After a second’s pause, Ymir and Mikasa struck poses in perfect synchronization.

There was an awkward silence that followed, broken only by the sounds of people trying to hold in their laughter. Connie’s hand was slowly lowering, his face giving away the fact that he was trying to process the sight in front of him. It was Sasha who broke the silence by saying what was on everyone’s mind.

“You guys… we heard you say ‘one, two.’”

At this, laughter broke free from the group, and the girls dropped their poses. Ymir, scowling, went to sulk next to Krista, while Mikasa gave no impression that she cared and went to stand beside Eren and Armin.

“Well, it’s good to see that this year’s recruits have a good sense of humour,” said Erwin, once the laughter had died down, “thank you, Ymir and Mikasa, for that, um, eccentric display.”

Eren thumped Mikasa on the back at this with a small cheer. She looked back at him, trying to scowl, but Jean saw the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Now it was Jean’s turn to scowl.

“In any case,” continued Erwin, “that’s all of the introductions I have to make! It’s now time for Keith to start teaching you all the ropes here at Camp Sina. You’ll probably see myself and the other head staff over the next few days, but for the most part it’ll just be all of you together. Well, Keith, you may proceed. Enjoy the training, everyone!”

Jean froze as a large hand grasped his shoulder. Its partner landed on Marco’s shoulder, causing the freckled boy to jump and turn to look at its owner. Jean did the same, and in that moment he could have sworn he saw the devil in Shadis’ expression.

“Well then, everyone,” he said, eyes glinting evilly from the depths of his dark circles, “you heard Mr. Smith. Let’s go have some fun!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you mean there's even more characters?


	4. Hide Away Your Hairspray

Training had been hell. Three days of non-stop Shadis screaming, constant Connie incidents, several Jaeger outbursts, and an undying urge to flee into the woods back to civilization – it was no wonder that Jean was overjoyed when training was finally announced to be over. Of course, he still had the rest of the summer to handle, but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.

For now, though, he was sitting in the dining hall, his head down on the cool, scratched wooden surface of a table. Marco, who Jean was learning seemed to have the patience of a saint, sat beside him, reading a book that Armin had lent him. The blond boy seemed to have brought an entire library’s worth of books with him, leaving Jean to wonder if he had sacrificed clothing space for reading material.

Jean winced as the loud laughter of Connie and Sasha started up from across the room again – the two had become inseparable over the past three days, leading to Ymir nicknaming them ‘dumb and dumber.’ Levi, who had appeared several times throughout training (for no apparent reason other than just to scare them) hadn’t even bothered to learn either Connie or Sasha’s name, opting instead to call them ‘thing one’ and ‘thing two.’

Now, the idiot duo were playing with the leftover food for dinner, attempting to see how many rolls could fit into Sasha’s mouth. As Jean rolled his eyes at the sight, he heard the loud rumble of footsteps. Less than a second later, the doors to the dining hall burst open and three teenage boys all but fell into the room.

At the loud surprise, Jean’s head shot up off the table, and Connie tried to fend off the sudden bread roll barrage. Eren and Reiner pulled themselves out of the doorway and leapt to their feet, shouting loudly over one another.

“We found–”

“Girls cabin–”

“Camp fire–”

“Big BOOM–”

Bertholdt, who had been the third boy to arrive, clapped a hand on each of the noisy boys’ shoulder.

“Why don’t you tell them together,” he suggested, “instead of yelling overtop of one another?”

They nodded, and Eren began talking rapidly.

“So, you know how Levi said we had to build tonight’s campfire, right? And how he said we had to make it really good?”

The listening teenagers nodded slowly.

“Well,” Reiner continued for Eren, “we came up with a great way to make it happen, but there was only one place we could get it. So we snuck into the girls’ tents–”

“You WHAT?!”

Everyone turned to look at Jean, who had slammed his hands down on the table and was now staring at the storytellers with his mouth hanging wide open and his face looking angry. Before anyone could comment about his offense towards breaching the girls’ privacy, however, Jean finished his statement.

“And you didn’t invite me?”

“Oh, get your head out of your pants, Kirschtein,” growled Eren, “we went in for one thing, and one thing only – and it wasn’t their panties.”

He then paused, looked down, and started to mutter to himself.

“Not to mention what would have happened if we had gone for their panties… especially what Mikasa would do… probably skin us alive or something… it’d be like that time when Armin and I–”

“We went for this!” yelled Reiner, interrupting Eren’s monologue of hypothetical doom.

He thrust his arm out, revealing a cylindrical object clenched in his hand. It took Jean a moment to realize what it was – a can of hairspray, no doubt directly out of one of the girls’ bags. There was a silence, which was quickly broken by Connie’s cry.

“Awesome!”

Reiner and Eren’s faces split into giant grins at this, and they high fived while Bertholdt looked on nervously. Sasha and Connie came closer to inspect their treasure, and Jean and Marco shortly followed suit.

“Oh man, Krista’s gonna kill you when she finds out you took her hairspray,” Sasha said, though she certainly didn’t look like she was about to go and rat them out.

“Oh, it’s Krista’s? We were wondering who really like the stripe pattern–”

“Nah, man, this bag was the one with the lacy stuff, remember? The stripes one was Ymir’s, cause she seems like the only one who would bring dumbbells to camp with her.”

“Sorry to disappoint, boys, but Mikasa and Annie also brought weights with them.”

“Aw, hell, Mikasa actually brought those? I thought she was joking!”

At this update, the faces on everyone varied greatly – Reiner and Eren were still grinning like idiots, Sasha looked all to eager to give away the identities of the lingerie owners, Bertholdt’s face was as red as a tomato, and Connie just looked excited at the prospect of lighting sick fires. Jean looked very much like someone who had missed winning the lottery by one number, while Marco looked fairly concerned. It was the latter that offered up a warning.

“Um, guys, I know you’re excited and all, but this doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

“Nonsense, Marco!” cried Connie, slinging an arm over the freckled boy’s shoulders, “where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Apparently, hanging out with your common sense,” muttered Marco, rolling his eyes.

His comment was lost, however, in Reiner’s enthusiastic cheering.

“Alright, let’s get this fire going! Eren and I already got all the wood and stuff, so all we gotta do is light ‘er up with this, and bam, we’re good to go!”

With cries of affirmation, Connie, Eren, and Reiner sprinted out of the dining hall. Bertholdt watched them go, and after a moment he sighed and turned to follow.

“Guess I’d better go make sure Reiner doesn’t light himself on fire…” he said, exiting the room.

This left Marco, Jean, and Sasha in the nearly empty dining hall. Connie’s shaven head poked into the doorway a second later.

“Come on, guys, what are you waiting for? Sash, you’re gonna miss the fire!”

“Right, right,” answered the girl, walking to join him.

As Jean and Marco also got up to follow, Jean caught a glimpse of the passing Sasha’s face. She was trying to hide a wicked grin, one that suggested she knew something the rest of them didn’t. And it was then, in that fleeting moment, that Jean got the feeling that something was about to go horrible wrong. 

* * *

 

To call Eren and Reiner’s creation a ‘fire’ would be, well, a massively generous overstatement. In fact, if the pile accomplished anything, it would be in clarifying that neither of the boys had evidently the slightest clue as to how to build a fire. The mass of forest material had been thrown clumsily into a sort of teepee shape, although it looked as though it might fall over at any moment (Jean was tempted to blow on it to see if it would topple). The larger pieces of wood were either rotten or damp, and the ‘kindling’ was the size of rulers. To make matters worse, boughs from cedar trees had also been added, which Jean knew from experience would only smoke them out.

“Hang on, that’s the fire?” exclaimed Connie, upon seeing the pile, “I thought it was a poorly placed piece of modern art!”

“Shut up, we tried, okay?” growled Eren, his face going red at the comment.

“Aw, who cares about how it looks,” cut in Reiner, holding up the hairspray can, “with this, anything will burn!”

It was at that moment that the group heard the sounds of muted voices, with the beams of flashlights giving away their rapidly closing distance.

“Shit, here they come!” swore Reiner, “Eren, light the fire already!”

The dark haired boy complied, dropping to his knees and pitching several lit matches into the heart of the teepee. As Jean had predicted, a great deal of smoke came from the cedar branches, causing them all to back away coughing. The teepee then gave a shudder and collapsed in upon itself, smoke seeping out like a last breath.

As the voices and lights grew even nearer, the group stared in their direction, and then exchanged panicked glances. As Eren began to rapidly throw matches at the smoking teepee’s corpse, Reiner loudly swore and grabbed the box of few remaining matches.

“Aw, screw this!” he howled, wrestling the lid off of the hairspray can and scattering matches in every direction before finally grabbing hold of one and striking it.

It was just as Reiner was positioning the match to aim towards the fire that the group of voices and lights came into view. Mikasa, Annie, and Armin rounded the path, coming out from behind the trees and taking in the scene before them. Reiner, posing awkwardly as he prepared to fire; Eren, scrambling away from the pile of wood; Connie, across from Reiner on the other side of the fire; Sasha and Bertholdt, standing farther back (the former with the wicked grin still on her face); and Jean and Marco, who were standing off to Reiner’s side, far back but still able to see just fine.

It was Armin who processed the scene fastest, his face dropping and going stark white, which made his eyebrows stand out even more.

“NO!” he had screamed, outstretching his hand as if it would stop the disaster about to happen – but Reiner’s finger was already pressing down on the nozzle. There wasn’t much else to do than stop and stare in horror as the events unfolded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, building a campfire is actually pretty hard for people who've never done it before. Secondly, please don't try this method at home.
> 
> Also, this chapter isn't actually finished yet! I'm uploading it halfway complete in for a reason, so stay tuned for the finished version. Until then, I'll let your imaginations do the work for you.


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